19 Types of Christians......

From: Online Christian Colleges

This is kind of a cute little graphic that is more or less informative.  The language used in "the Doubting Thomas" category is interesting to me.

Plus, there's two "Mormons" on the list! Twilight and G. Beck.  Even if both make many Mormons cringe.  In fact, G.Beck is one out of a handful of right-wing personalities that my dad and I agree upon.  Yes, we both think he's "fringe."    

Jan Berenstain

RIP Jan Berenstain.  

Happy Birthday, Hermano!

Steven at 20 months in the mid' 80s.  He wouldn't put the hat on (which is why he's not smiling either).

Mormon Voluntary Modesty Police Force!

So the latest episode of the "Voluntary Modesty Police Force" happened on Tuesday at BYU for those of you who haven't heard about it yet living under a rock .  Like last Fall, I dismissed it just as that one "crazy" guy you get in a singles ward.  However, one of the writers on FMH stated this, "As long as we keep teaching boys they are too weak to behave themselves, they’re going to believe it," and it got me to thinking.  In the LDS (Mormon) Church, young women are taught sometimes that they should dress modestly because otherwise men will have unpure thoughts.  In fact, I read something to that effect in one of the conference talks this past year because I remember disagreeing and stewing over it for several weeks.  I ended up just tossing the idea out the window because I still disagree with it.  I think it's potentially harmful to teach young women that they are "guardians" of men's thoughts and virtue for several reasons-one being that it can give young men the idea that they are powerless over their thoughts.  
The letter above is a Young Man reminding a Young Women of this concept that was taught at church.  Was this just a "crazy" guy at BYU-I and BYU or are we going to see more instances of "skinny jeans" that embarrass most of the rest of us?  What do you think?  Oh, and if you disagree with me--I'm more than happy to hear what you have to say.   

Valentines!

I like Valentines Day.  A lot.  I try not to think about the commercialism of the day and think about it as simply of a day of love.  Oh, I probably would like Valentines Day more if I wasn't single, but I try not to focus on that.  In fact, I really detest the phrase "Single Awareness Day," but whatever works for people.  I know that it's tough being single.
Anyway, I was thinking about why I like Valentines Day and I realized that it's in part because of my mom.  When my siblings and I were little, she always gave us a little gift for Valentines Day.  Now that we're older, each of us still gets a little package from her almost every year.  I remember getting packages from her while I was in college, in Chile and out here.  It's one of many things I treasure about my mom.  Plus, she always puts cinnamon gummy (the gumdrop ones) hearts that I LOVE and can't find out here in my package.      

Weekend Etc.

After attending a party on Friday night, I stayed in for most of the rest of the weekend.  The weather was super cold and windy.  My lungs don't do well with either and I didn't want to risk it.  I haven't been sick for a month and I want to continue my streak.

Anyway, I was going to show off a couple of crafts I finished over the weekend, but I ironed a hole in the skirt as I was working on the hem--right after I thought I probably needed a ironing cloth.  Oh well.

Shifting gears, the "Mormon" blogs are in a tizzy over the practice of not allowing menstruating girls to do proxy baptisms in LDS Temples.  The rule isn't official LDS policy and is "enforced" intermittently at some temples (but not all).  Feminist Mormon Housewives  has put up a call to action here.   

Whales!!

I haven't had the best luck when it comes to seeing whales.  In 2008, I was whale watching just on the coast of Oregon but the water was too choppy to see the gray whales that were probably there.  In 2009, I was on a whale watching tour that had 99% success that year.  We were the unfortunate 1% that didn't see whales.  Last year on the plane back from the Galapagos Islands, I was sitting next to a lady who was on the same itinerary as us-just on a different boat.  She asked if we saw the whale that was next to our boat the night before.  We didn't but they did.  Anyway, this past weekend Kelli and I went whale watching in Virginia Beach.  This year has been the best year the aquarium sponsored tour has had in almost ten years.  I was nervous about seeing them, but my luck turned this weekend.  We saw at least 4 (and maybe 6) humpback whales.  They were just as neat as I thought they would be.

Random Post

So, yesterday Kelli and I celebrated my birthday (don't worry mom, we're both still straight).  We started out at a Lebanese restaurant that has to die for hummus.  After a wonderful dinner, we went to the Massage Academy for massages.  The Masseuses are students so it's about half or less of what a 1 hour massage costs almost everywhere else (at 35 an hour it's even cheaper than Groupon).  I admit, it was my first massage.  I haven't been leery of getting one, I just have never done it before. Kelli's done it before, but this was her first male masseuse.  Anyway, the massage was lovely.  I had a hard time keeping my eyes open the rest of the night.

When I was home over Christmas, I spent many hours with my niece watching Sesame Street.  I was talking to my brother and sister in law about Sesame Street and they mentioned they hadn't watched this one yet which was her favorite.